The Princess of the Key
by NaokoElric2250
Summary: Kairi is a girl whos life is shattered when one night a terrble storm hits her island home, and she is seperated from her two best friends Sora and Riku. Together with her new friends, Donald and Goofy, will Kairi find Sora and Riku and stop the darkness?
1. The Awakening

**The Princess of the Key**

**Chapter 1**

_**The Awakening**_

"_I've been having these weird thoughts lately...l__ike, is any of this real, or not?"_

A young girl was falling though darkness, but she was not sacred; she was nervous, but not afraid. The girl's feet came to land on a platform with a picture of a woman in a red, blue and yellow dress decorating it, and holding an apple in her hand. The woman seemed familiar to the girl, though she could not figure out how that was so. A voice called out to the girl, though she could not see the speaker.

_So much to do. So little time...take your time, don't be afraid...the door is still shut...now step forward, can you do it?_

Somehow, the girl knew she could trust the voice, it sounded so gentle and pure, and she stepped forward just as it had asked her too. Three pedestals rose out of the ground, a spark of light emitted from each one, and as it died out a weapon appeared. There was a shield on the right, a staff on the left and a sword in the middle.

_Power sleeps within you…if you give it form…It will give you strength… choose well…_

The girl stepped forward again, taking time to examine the weapons before her. She walked towards the shield, and as the tips of her fingers touched it, the voice spoke again.

_The power of the Guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all._

The girl had to admit it was a handsomely made shield. A red border ran around the outside of its inner black colouring, and in the middle of the shield was a red mouse head shape.

She walked over to the staff and touched it, and just as before, the voice spoke again.

_The power of the Mystic. Inner strength, a staff of wonder and ruin._

This weapon was beautiful. It had a long gold handle, with a green grip that ran along it, until it flared out into a brown shape, and on top of that was a blue sphere shaped like the same mouse on the shield.

She went over to the sword and touched it.

T_he power of the Warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction._

"Guardian, Mystic, Warrior," The girl whispered to herself.

_Choose wisely,_ the voice warned her.

The girl liked the idea being a Mystic, a master of magic and holder of inner strength. Though she also liked the idea of being a Warrior too, as they had invincible courage, yet the Guardian seemed like a good choice too as she was always willing to aid and defend her friends.

She thought for a while, and finally after looking the weapons and hearing the voice one more, she made her decision.

She chose the sword, taking a hold of the handle. Just like the other two, this weapon was wonderfully crafted. It had a blade of pure silver, and the handle pure gold, with a blue grip covering the middle of it. Set into the tip of the handle, just below the blade, was a red circle with a black mouse head shaped symbol in the middle of it, similar to the other weapons.

_Are you sure you wish to choose this form and wield the power of the Warrior? _the voice asked her.

"Yes," she replied.

_Your path is set._

Suddenly the ground beneath the girl began to shake, the platform she was standing on shattered, making her fall through the darkness once more.

_Don't be afraid…_ the voice called out once again, calming her.

The girl's feet came to land on another platform similar to the one before, but this time the picture on the floor was a beautiful princess wearing a blue ball gown. She too seemed familiar to her, but how did she know this woman? Suddenly, a bright light emitted from her hand, and as it died down, her sword appeared.

_You've gained the power to fight…_

The girl turned to see shadows moving around on the floor.

_There will be times you have to fight, keep your light burning strong…_

The shadows came up from the ground, no longer flat, and took on the appearance of insect-like creatures, they were completely black, with sharp claws and big, bright yellow eyes. The girl shook with fear; she had never seen anything so frightening in her life. However, as quickly as the shadows had appeared, they disappeared once more. She glanced around, trying to figure out where they had gone.

_Behind you! _the voice called.

The girl turned to face one of the monsters standing right behind her, and she swung her sword at it, three hits and the thing was down, but there were more. She fought off each of them as they appeared, until it had seemed that she had defeated them all.

Suddenly darkness began to spread from the middle of the platform to around the girl, and she began to sink into it as it reached her feet. She struggled, but to no avail, as she sank further and further into the darkness, until she could see nothing at all. She continued to kick and throw her arms and feet around helplessly, until the darkness cleared and she found herself laying on the cold floor of yet another platform.

This time it was mostly pink, with heart-shaped designs all over it in blue, yellow and white, and the silhouettes of three more woman. As the girl sat up, she saw a door ahead of her. She got to her feet and walked towards it, and tried to open it, but it would not open. The girl turned round and saw what seemed to be a red treasure chest appeared. She walked over to the treasure chest and examined it, as she did her sword appeared in her hand. She guessed she had to use the weapon to open the chest and tapped the lid with the sword. The chest opened, and inside with a small bottle of green liquid.

_This is a Potion, _the voice told the girl. _It can be useful when you are low on energy or injured, but use it wisely._

The girl nodded and put the potion in her pocket.

With nothing else on the platform but herself and the door, the girl tried to open the door again, and this time it worked. As her fingertips made contact with the door, it began to open by itself. A light so bright erupted from it, which blinded the girl so she had to shield her eyes with her hand. She stepped through. As the light cleared, she found herself on the deck of an island, her island.

_Hold on, the door won't open just yet, _the gentle voice told her_._

A little girl with short brown hair and green eyes wearing a pretty yellow dress, brown sandals and a dark blue bangle, sat on the railings before her. The girl knew her, but somehow she could not remember her name at the moment.

_First, tell me about the real you, _the voice continued.

The girl walked towards the other girl.

"What's most important to you? The yellow dress-wearing girl asked the other girl. "Being number one, friendship, or your most prized possession?"

"Umm…" the other girl trailed off.

Her most prized possession was a silver droplet shaped necklace that hung around her neck, no, there were more important things in life than that. She thought about the wooden swordfights she had with her two best friends on the island, she had always wanted to beat them and be number one. She suddenly became frustrated with herself, why could she not remember those boy's names. They _were_her best friends after all. That was when she made her decision.

"Friendship," She answered the girl.

The brown haired girl smiled and nodded, and pointed towards a young blonde boy with light blue eyes. He was wearing a white and yellow short-sleeved jacket with no shirt underneath, a baggy pair of blue shorts, which had one leg going post his knee, while the other stopped just at his knee. On his feet, the boy wore pair of blue and yellow sandals. The girl walked towards him.

"What are you afraid of?" He asked her. "Being different, getting old, or being indecisive?"

"Umm…" she trailed off once again.

"Think, think, think," She whispered to herself.

Being different had never been a fear of hers, because she believed in individuality. Being indecisive made things complicated, and she really hated it, but she was not afraid of it. Getting old, however, was a definite fear of the girl's. She was afraid of the time when her days would grow shorter, and death would grow nearer, she never wanted to die, the mere idea of it filled her with terror. The boy merely smiled and gestured towards another boy. The girl looked at the small boy who had questioned her fears, he too she recognized, but could not remember his name either. Letting her frustration subside, the girl walked towards the other boy, he was a little taller than she was, with brown eyes, tanned skin and orange coloured hair held back with a blue headband. He wore a white tank top and baggy yellow pants, and dark green sandals, and held a blue ball in his hand.

"What do you want outta life?" he asked the girl. "To see rare sights, to broaden your horizons or to be strong?"

She had always wished she were stronger, like - why could she not remember his name? However, being strong was not her biggest desire in life. She knew she wanted to see rare sights during her lifetime, the island was getting a little boring, but it still was not the thing she wanted most. She made up her mind again, and spoke once more.

"To broaden my horizons," she answered.

All she really wanted in life was to do everything she wanted to do, to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them, and overall, become the best person she could possibly be. She heard the gentle voice speak once again_._

_You value friendship…you want to broaden your horizons...you're afraid of getting old…"_

The girl waiting with bated breath.

_Your journey begins at midday, keep a steady pace and you'll do fine…_

The girl nodded, even though she did not fully understand what the words meant.

_The day you will open the door is both far off and very near…_

The world around the girl disappeared into blinding light once more, and when the light faded, she found herself walking along another platform. The picture on the floor was of another beautiful princess, this time with long blonde hair and a pink ball gown. Her eyes, like all the other woman so far, were closed, and she held a rose to her chest. Again, she seemed familiar, but of course, the girl could not figure out why.

The girls suddenly heard something moving around behind her, and she turned around to find another monster, it quickly began to grow in numbers until there was a whole circle of them surrounding her. She pulled out her sword and fought them off one by one, and soon they were all gone. A pool of light appeared on the ground before the girl. She walked towards it, and it began to move away from her toward the edge of the platform where it disappeared and a rainbow-coloured stained-glass staircase appeared leading up to the next platform. The girl climbed the staircase, and the platform she found herself standing on had yet another picture of a princess, this time she wore a yellow ball gown and had brown hair. The girl heard the voice speak as she walked towards the centre of the platform.

_The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes…_

Sheturned around to see her long shadow behind her, suddenly it began to rise up out of the ground, and it grew bigger and bigger, until she was facing a huge black monster. The monster bore yellow eyes just like the smaller ones, and its face was all twisted and had tentacle-like things coming out of it. It also had claws on the end of its hands and weird zigzag feet. In the place where its stomach should have been, was nothing but a massive, hollow, heart-shaped hole. It was by far the most frightening thing the girl had ever seen in her life.

The girl blinked her eyes viciously, it was only a dream, she thought, she could wake up from it, surely. It was not working. She blinked harder and faster, but still she could not wake up. She began to panic, sweat rolled down her neck, her breathing got faster, she was terrified.

_But don't be afraid, and don't forget… _the voice tried to calm the girl.

The monstrous creature started toward her, and she turned and ran, but she didn't get far, she stopped abruptly before the platforms edge, flailing her arms and wobbling on one leg, trying to regain her balance. She turned to face the creature once more.

"Be brave," the girl told herself. "Be brave, and fight!"

The girl ran away as dark balls of light rained all around her, and whenever the monster lowered its hand to the ground, she hacked at it as much as she could with her sword. She kept at it until she had worn out just about every muscle in her body, but still somehow, it was not doing anything. After a while of fighting the monster and the smaller monsters, it produced every time it lowered its hand to the ground and fighting the monster. The monster suddenly lashed out at the girl with its claws. The girl jumped backwards, avoiding the blow, but as she did so, her sword disappeared. The girl panicked, her weapon, her only means of protection and fighting, was gone!

She fell to the floor and darkness formed around her once again, she began to sink into it as it closed in on her, but she was too exhausted to fight it. The girl's last view before she was plunged into darkness was that of the terrifying monster leaning over her, the one she had tried so desperately to defeat**.**

_But don't be afraid…and don't forget…you hold the mightiest weapon of all…_

It was the voice again, in the endless dark abyss, it calmed her, and her fear drifted away. The voice was so gentle, so pure, and although she had no idea who the owner of that voice was, the girl trusted them.

_So don't forget…_

The girl could feel consciousness slipping away.

_You are the one who will open the door…_

* * *

**Author's Notes: So, what do you think of the first chapter, dear reader? Please review!**

**Thank you. ^_^**


	2. Supplies and Friends

**Chapter 2**

_**Supplies and Friends**_

The girl opened her eyes to the blinding sun above her. She was safe on her island home, called Destiny Islands, once more. Relieved, she yawned and lay back on the sand to go back to sleep when sudden a familiar boy's face come into view.

Startled, the girl gave a exclamation of "Whoa!" as she sat bolt upright.

The boy had spiky brown hair sloping to the left and blue eyes. He was wearing a hooded black and white short-sleeved jacket, which was blue on the inside with a sleeveless, short-legged, red jumpsuit, which zipped up at the front and had a chain hanging off it at the left side of his waist. A blue belt was round his waist, and on he wore yellow training on his feet.

On his hands, the boy wore white fingerless gloves that reached a little past his wrists and had a blue band going round the middle of them. An the bands was a coin bearing a design, and black bands tightening gloves to his wrists.

The boy stood over the girl, glaring at her with his silver crown necklace swinging back and forth from his neck.

The boy was one of the girl's two best friends, and he laughed as she turned around on her knees to face him.

"Gimmie a break, Sora," the girl said.

"Kairi, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here," he replied, straitening up. "You have become real lazy lately."

"No!" Kairi cried. "This huge black _thing_ swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't- ow!" the girl was cut off by something hitting her on the back of her head. However, when she rubbed the lump, there was nothing there.

"Are you still dreaming?" Sora asked, looking closely at Kairi's face.

"It wasn't a dream! Or was it? I don't know," Kairi replied. "What was that place? So bizarre." She stared out at the sea as if it could provide an answer.

"Yeah, sure," Sora replied, cutting her off.

"Say Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up?" he suddenly asked.

Kairi stood up and walked to the edge of the sea, and said, "I've told you before, I don't remember,"

"Nothing at all?"

"Nothing."

"You ever wanna go back?"

"Well, I'm happy here."

"Really?"

"But you know, I wouldn't mind going to see it," Kairi said, staring out at the sea.

"I'd like to see it too, along with any other worlds out there; I wanna see 'em all." Sora replied.

"So what're we waiting for?" Kairi turned and asked him, smiling.

"Hey! Aren't you guys forgetting about me?" said a boy with shoulder length silver hair wearing a top that was yellow at the front and black at the back which had two black strap crossing over each other at the front and back of his top. He was also wearing blue baggy pants, which matching straps that connected the bottom part of his pants his waist, the pants were held in at the angles with buckled leather bands. He also wore white trainers with a blue stripe going down the middle of them, a black wristband on each wrist and a pair of black gloves that stopped short of his wrists.

The boy's name was Riku and he was well built and had really nice eyes, they were blue like Sora's, but they were a brighter shade, the colour of the ocean that surrounded the island, whereas Sora's were more of an electric blue.

"So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft," Riku said, throwing a log to Sora, making him topple over and fall to the ground. Kairi laughed.

"And you're just as lazy as he is," he said, walking over to Kairi.

Kairi giggled and replied, "So you noticed."

Kairi looked at both Sora and Riku and spreading out her arms, she said, "Okay, we'll finish it together."

"Huh?" said Sora

"What, are you kidding?" Riku added sat as he sat down on the sand next to Sora and laid back.

"I'll race you!" Kairi said. "Ready, Go!"

Riku and Sora looked at each other before springing up from the ground and beginning to run, they both fought for the lead, and Kairi followed close behind. Halfway though the race, Kairi slowed down, stopped, and thought about the strange place in her dream once more.

She shook her head and said to herself, "come on now, there are more important things than unusual dreams to be thinking about right now."

Kairi toward the entrance to the cove, where Sora and Riku where standing. They were talking, though Kairi could not hear what they were saying from the distance she was away from them.

She watched as Sora finished talking and Riku nodded to him, and then run off, towards the tree house, apparently looking for something.

Kairi walked up to Sora, who spotted and called, "Hey, Kairi, listen up."

"We still need to collect things to complete the raft," Sora said. "Riku is going to get a cloth and some rope, and since you like slacking off, I am gonna give you the hard job."

_Great.._ Kairi thought.

"You are going to need to find two logs," said Sora.

"I'll be waiting here, so when you find them, bring them back here okay?"

"Sure."

Sora nodded and smiled at Kairi, showing that he was not _that _mad at her for being 'lazy'.

Kairi ran down to the edge of the sea, where she saw a log floating in the shallow water. She dragged it out onto the dry sand so it would not float away, and looked around, trying to figure out where she would find the other log she needed. Her eyes caught sight of the smaller island a few meters or so away from the main island. There would be a log there for sure.

Kairi looked up and saw her 13-year-old friend Selphie sitting on the pier, where the children tied up their boats. Selphie was wearing her usual outfit, a pretty yellow dress, brown sandals and a blue bangle.

As she walked up to Selphie, it hit Kairi that Selphie was one of the children who had appearing her dream.

"Hey Selphie," Kairi said, smiling at Selphie

"Hey Kairi," said Selphie. "Kairi, I never see you these days, what're you up too?"

"I've been busy."

"Riku and Sora have sure been busy too; can you tell me what you're planning?"

"Sorry, Selphie, it's a secret."

"Oh, Okay," said Selphie, looking a little disappointed.

Going back to her job, Kairi run back to the sea, and waded into the water. She paused and looked down at her reflection in the water. Her friends and her mother had always said she was beautiful.

She had uneven, chin-length red hair. She always wore her hair in a left side parting, with her fringe on the right. She also had electric blue eyes, the same shade as Sora had. Her eye colour was not the only thing Kairi shared with Sora, she was fourteen and so was he. Riku, on the other hand, was fifteen.

Kairi was wearing her favourite outfit, which she wore almost every day.

It consisted of a white tank top with thin purple straps with a black tank top with much thicker straps, the ends of which, along with the neck of the top, were white.

She also wore light purple shorts with a slightly darker sarong over it, which was held up by a blue, leather belt. Kairi's shoes white mostly white with a pink and purple stripe going round the top to the back. On her left arm, Kairi wore a yellow sweatband round her wrist and a dark purple armlet. On her right arm, she wore two bangles, one black and one yellow, and a black choker around her neck along with her necklace.

She swam out to the little island, happy, as the water was warmer than it was on most days, due to how hot the sun was that day, and she did not shiver like she usually did when she went swimming.

She eventually reached the island and climbed up the later Riku's father, who was a very good carpenter, had fixed to the island's edge. For a ladder that had been for years, it was still pretty sturdy. Pulling herself onto the island, Kairi laid down on the sand until she was dry. When she was dry, she looked for the second log she needed and sure enough, she found one underneath a coconut tree. She dragged the log across the bridge that let back to the main island and placed it next to the other log.

"You almost done, Kairi?" asked Riku, running past the girl, carrying the rope and cloth he had found.

"Yup, Sora should be happy," Kairi replied, joining Riku as he run over the island to where their friend was standing.

Sora smiled as they approached.

"Good work, you two," Sora said.

"Thanks…Sora…" Riku and Kairi panted.

Sora laughed.

* * *

It was sunset and the three friends sat on a bent over papou tree on the small island. Well, Sora and Kairi were sitting on the tree, Riku was standing next to them, leaning against it. The view was beautiful; the sunset reflected the sea causing it to become an orange colour, just like the sky. It was one of the many things Kairi loved about the island. The air was cool, but not cold. It was going to be a beautiful night.

"So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?" Sora asked, breaking the silence.

"Could be, we'll never know by staying here," replied Riku.

"But how far could a raft take us?" questioned Sora.

"Who knows, If we have to, we'll think of something else. "

"So, suppose you get to another world, what would you do there?" Kairi asked him.

"Well, I haven't really thought about it, it's just, I've always wondered why we're here on this island, if there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?" replied Riku.

"And suppose there are other worlds, then ours if just a little piece of something much greater, so, we could've just as easily ended up somewhere else, right? Riku continued.

"I don't know," Sora replied as he lay down on the tree branch.

"Exactly, that's why we need to go out there and find out, just sitting here won't change a thing, it's the same old stuff, so let's go!"

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi asked Riku.

"Thanks to you," said Riku, leaning off the papou tree.

"If you hadn't come here, I properly would've never thought of any of this," Riku continued.

"Kairi, thanks," Riku said, turning to her and smiling

"Your welcome," said Kairi, with a small giggle.

When it got darker, the three friends begin to head home.

As they crossed the bridge, Riku called out to Sora.

"Sora!" he called.

Kairi, as well as Sora, stopped and looked round, wondering what Riku was going to talk to him about.

Riku threw a star-shaped papou fruit to Sora and said, "You wanted one, didn't you?"

"A papou fruit?" Sora questioned.

"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined, they'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what." Riku said as he walked by Sora.

"C'mon, I know you wonna try it," Riku continued.

"What are you talking…?" Sora trailed off. Riku just laughed.

Sora threw the papou fruit aside as run after Riku, who was trying to catch up with the now walking Kairi.

* * *

In a completely different world, far away form the Destiny Islands, Donald Duck walked down of the corridors of a place known as Disney Castle, heading for the Throne Room, where he excepted the king to be waiting. Donald Duck was the Royal Court Magician and was had white feathers and was wearing a black and blue jumpsuit with a purple belt around his waist with decorative zippers and a wide brimmed, mages hat which had a spiralling tip. Donald walked up to the large purple doors that let to the Throne Room, cleared his throat and knocked on one on the doors. A small section opening in the one of the doors, it was just big enough for Donald to walk though.

"Good morning, You're Majesty." Donald said as he walking along the red carpet that let to the king's throne.

"Its good to see you this morn- _what?_"Donald stopped in surprise, realising that the king was missing.

Pluto the dog, the king's loyal pet, poked his head out from his place vehind the throne. He had an envelope in his mouth, which bared the king's green mouse-head seal. Donald took the envelope from Pluto, opened and began reading the letter inside, as he did so his eyed widened in shock. Dropping the letter, Donald ran out of the Throne Room, screaming. Donald ran out into the courtyard, where Goofy, the captain of the royal knights, was meant the by on guard, every day. Goofy was a dog and had a long snout, floppy black ears and two large upper front teeth. He was wearing an orange and blue top and orange trousers that were black at the bottom. Today, unlike most days Goofy was sleeping on the job.

"Wake up, Goofy, wake up! This is serious!" Donald shouted at Goofy.

Goofy contuined to sleep. Donald, annoyed, let out a cry and pointed a finger into the sky. A bolt of lightening came down and struck Goofy. Goofy woken up with a cry and sat up.

"Hey there Donald, g'morning," said Goofy.

"We've got a problem, Goofy," said Donald, then he leaned close to Goofy and said: "But don't tell anyone."

"Queen Minnie?" said Goofy looking somewhere behind Donald, though Donald did not notice.

Donald folded his arms and replied "not even the Queen!" Goofy gulped.

"Daisy?" he said.

"No, its top secret!" Donald cried.

"Uh, g'morning ladies!" Goofy said waving to someone behind Donald.

"What?" said Donald.

Donald froze and slowly turned to find Queen Minnie and Daisy, the queen's lady-in-waiting, and Donald gilfreind, standing behind him.

Daisy cleared her thoat and put her hands on her hips, looking at Donald suspiciously. Donald laughed nervously. It looked like he had some explaining to do.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Hope you enjoyed the second chapter readers! Please review! I like reviews!**

**Thank you. ^_^**


	3. Provisitions and Memories

**Chapter 3 **

_**Provisions and Memories**_

It was a new day on Destiny Islands. Kairi walked outside to find it was another beautiful day, the sun shone brightly in the beautiful blue sky and there was not a cloud in sight. The first thing she decided to do was talk to Selphie. Selphie was the same yellow dress and the day before, and was on the pier again, but today she was standing on it, looking out to the sea.

"Hiya Selphie," Kairi said as she walked up to Selphie.

"Hi Kairi," Selphie said. "Kairi, I am thinking of sharing a paopu fruit with someone, but who should I pick?"

"Tidus?"

"No way, I can do well better than Tidus or Wakka," Selphie said with a slight tone in her voice.

"Well okay then, I'll leave you to think about it," Kairi replied.

"Okay then, see you later," said Selphie and looked back out at the sea.

"Bye bye," said Kairi, and walked off.

Kairi walked over to another of her friends, 15-year-old Wakka. Wakka was with his best friend, 13-year-old Tidus, whom Kairi was a good friend of as well. Tidus was using Wakka's ball as to practise his sword-fighting, though he do not have a wooden sword like Sora and Riku, but a slightly sharp, wooden stick painted red.

Wakka was tall and had tanned skin, brown eyes and orange hair held back by a blue headband. He was wearing a white tank top and baggy yellow pants, and dark green sandals.

Tidus had slightly tanned skin, blue eyes and blonde hair that reached his chin. He was wearing a white and yellow short-sleeved jacket with no shirt underneath. On his lower half, he wore a pair of baggy blue shorts, which had one leg going post his knee, while the other stopped just at his knee, and pair of blue and yellow sandals. They wore those outfits almost every day. As she walked up to Wakka and Tidus, Kairi realized that, they were the other two children had appeared in her strange dream, but decided not to dwell on it.

"Hi, Tidus. Hi, Wakka," she said as she walked up to them.

Wakka smiled and replied, "Hi Kairi".

Tidus, on the other hand, just give Kairi a small smile, said nothing, and continued to hit Wakka's ball against the side of the coconut tree he was also using for his sword-fighting practise.

"How are you today?" Wakka asked.

"I'm great what about you?" Kairi replied cheerily.

"I'm fine," Wakka said then glanced at Tidus. "He's fine too, he being like this since this 7:30 this morning".

Kairi laughed. "So what are you going to do today?"

"Me and Tidus, we are going to do a little explorin' today."

"Where to?"

"You know to the secret place at the base of that tree." He pointed to a cave at the bottom of the tree house, next to the waterfall. "There's gotta be something there, ya?"

"Yeah, definitely," Kairi replied.

"You should tell that to Selphie, she won't believe a word Tidus and I say"

"Oh, don't worry about Selphie, she's not that gullible, though it is strange she does believe the legend of the papou fruit, even though she doesn't believe there is anything there at the secret place."

"Do you believe in the papou fruit legend?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Well so do I."

"I guess no-one can believe in everything, like Selphie." Wakka said, with a laugh.

"Well I might go there later too," Kairi commented. "But first I have to go find Riku and Sora."

"Okay then, see you later," Wakka replied.

Tidus stopped for a few seconds to nod Kairi a goodbye, then went straight back to his training.

Kairi give two a final smile goodbye, then went to look for Sora and Riku.

She found Riku and Sora at the cove but neither noticed her presence as they were having a conversation.

"Hey Sora, our raft still need a name," Riku said. "Let's see…how about Highwind? What about you Sora, what do you want to call it?"

"Me? Well…hmm…" Sora crossed his arms, thinking. "I want to call it…Excalibur."

"Hey how 'bout…" Riku begin to speak.

"The usual?" Sora finished Riku's sentence.

Kairi sighed. They were at it again.

"You guys at it again?" She asked as she walked up to the boys. "All right I'll be the judge."

Kairi turned at pointed down the long cove beach and continued:

"The usual rules apply: take any route you want…first one to tag that tree and make it back here wins."

Kairi indicated a star-shaped tree, then when to stand in a good spot to view the racetrack ready to start, and the two boys followed.

"If I win, uh, I'm captain, and if you win…" Sora trailed off, trying to think of a good prize for Riku.

"I get to share the paopu with Kairi." Riku said before Sora could think of anything.

"Huh?" Sora said, surprised.

"Deal? The winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi."

"Wha…wait a minute…"

Okay on my count," Kairi called, raising her arm, before Sora had a change to argue. "Three, two, one - go!" She lowered her arm to start the race.

She watched the two boys run at full pelt. She sat down on the ground, admiring how pretty the sea looked with the sun reflecting of off it and soaked in some rays.

After a few moments, the redhead looked ahead to see how far the boys had gotten, and saw Riku jump up to hit the star-shaped tree, then Sora a few seconds later.

They began to head back towards her, Riku had the lead, which did not surprise Kairi, as Riku was the fastest runner on the island, not to mention the best sword fighter. Still though, Sora was pretty determined as well.

Suddenly, Kairi gasped - Sora had just taken the lead. He was only a few metres away from her.

The girl was even more surprised when Riku, not Sora, stepped on the loose plank of the broken up bridge that sent him into the water. It was usually Sora who did that. The boy ran over Kairi, a smile on his face, completely the race.

"Yeah, I won!" Sora cried, punching the air with glee.

Riku walked up to his two friends, his lower half wet from the water.

"Hey, lighten up, it's just a name after all," he said.

Sora replied with an angry scowl. "Hey, wait, what about the papou fruit?"

"Huh?" Kairi injected. The boys ignored her.

Riku laughed and replied, "That was just a joke. You're so gullible, Sora."

"I am not!"

"Chill, Sora," Kairi said, putting a hand on Sora's shoulder to calm him down. His eyes met hers and she smiled at him. He blushed, and turned away.

The three of them waked over to the part of the beach where the completed raft had being set. Riku had built the night before, and according to him, it was very late when he completed it.

"It looks really good Riku," Kairi remarked,.

"I just know we will get to other worlds on it," Sora added.

"Thanks" Riku replied.

_He takes after his father_, Kairi thought.

Kairi turned to her friends, her ands on her hips, and said, "Tomorrows the big day, you guys! However, we need to gather provisions. Riku, you get a seagull egg and three fish. As for me, I will get drinking water, some mushrooms and coconuts." She turned to Sora, but before she could open her mouth, Sora spoke.

"Wait Kairi, You got the things yesterday, I'll get the mushrooms and the water, and you just take a break." He said.

"Well, I don't mind going to collect things again," Kairi replied, confused.

"No, please take a break, I feel kind of bad for giving you the hard job yesterday, it's the least I can do to say sorry," said Sora, with a sad expression on his face.

"Well okay. Thanks, Sora," the red-haired girl replied, smiling. It seemed to cheer Sora up and he smiled back.

"We'll meet up back here in two hours okay?" She said to the two boys.

"Right" the two boys said in unison, then they begin top walk away.

"See you later!" Sora said as he walked, waving to Kairi.

"Yeah, see you," said Riku, with a nod in the girl's direction. She waved to them until they disappeared from her view.

Kairi decided the first thing she would do on her break would be to go and explore the secret place. She walked over the entrance of the cave and crouching slightly, she went inside. It was dark, as the only source of light come form the cave entrance. She walked through a small passage and came to the main cave.

Kairi, Sora and Riku used to play in the secret place all the time when they were younger, They would spend countless hours playing games, telling stories, sharing secrets, and drawing on the cave's walls. Kairi did not know why they did not do that anymore. She guessed they just got tired of doing the same thing every day, which was happening again, as was one of the many things that had inspired the three friends to build their raft.

Kairi walked over the wall where the mysterious door that had no handle was, the door that she had being itching to opening ever since Riku had shown to her and Sora when they were six. She delighted to see an old picture that she and Sora had drawn together just a little time after the discovery of the door. She smiled as more memories came to her, as she looked at her detailed drawing of Sora, and Sora's not-so-detailed drawing of her. Kairi knelt next the drawing and picked up a rock intending to add something to the drawing.

But what?

She thought of the deal the Sora and Riku had made and wished that it had been true and she had got to share a papou with Sora. Sora was her best friend, even closer than Riku, she and Sora had been through a lot together, and if sharing a papou fruit would mean they would be in each other's lives forever, that would be great. She could not bear the thought of living without him.

She began to scratch at the cave wall with the rock, drawing Sora's hand stretching over to her, given her a papou fruit to share with him. Once she had finished her work, she sat back and admired it. It was like being 6-years-old again.

Kairi heard a noise behind her. She began to get scared. If Wakka was right, there was something in here then it may not be friendly.

"Wh-who's there?" the now frightened girl asked, turning around.

"I've come to see the door to this world," said a deep, male voice. A cloaked figure had appeared, seemly out of nowhere, a hood concealing his face.

"Huh?" Kairi questioned the man's words.

"This world has been connected," he replied.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Kairi stuttered, trying to hide her fear.

"Tied to the darkness, soon to be completely eclipsed," the man continued.

"Well whoever you are, stop freaking me out like this," she replied. Then looked up the man and said: "Huh? Wh-where did you come from?" suddenly curious about how he have going there in the first place.

"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door," he said, completely ignoring the girl's question.

"So you're from another world!" she exclaimed, suddenly feeling a rush of excitement at the truth; there were other worlds out there!

"There is so very much to learn, you understand so little," the hooded figure continued.

"Oh yeah? Well you'll see, I'm gonna get out and learn what's out there!" She said maybe just a little too proudly.

"A meaningless effort, one who knows nothing can understand nothing."

Kairi looked away from the man, looking towards the door. What would he know about her? He did not know her, she understood things better than anyone thought, who was he to tell her what she was and was not capable of? She looked back towards the corner where he stood, but he had disappeared.

How weird…

Kairi came out of the cave and back into sunlight, deciding to have a nice walk for to pass the time of her break. She walked around the beach, spotting Riku swimming in the sea, trying to catch some fish. She then spotted Sora who was furiously whacking a coconut tree with his wooden sword, trying to shake some more coconuts loose, he already had two. Wakka was standing near the secret place, practicing tricks with his ball, and Selphie was still on the pied, still deep in thought about which person she would to share a papou fruit with.

Kairi decide to go the little off shore island.

She saw that Tidus was there, he had gone off to train on his own, supposedly before he and Wakka explored the secret place.

Kairi walked up to Tidus and said, "Hi again, Tidus."

Tidus, unlike the last time she had meet him that day, turned around and spoke to her.

"Good morning, Kairi," he said, smiling again at her. "You want to know something?"

"What is it?" Kairi replied.

"I think Sora's gotten stronger, he told me that beat Riku in a race earlier, well that's good, but odds are he's is still no match for Riku in battle."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Well Wakka, Selphie and I took him on three-to-one a few days ago and he whipped us all."

Tidus then smiled cheekily at Kairi and said, "Well I guess you can always count on Riku, huh, Kairi?"

"Yeah I guess," Kairi replied.

"Hey Kairi, do you want a quick round? I want to test my skill before I go exploring with Wakka."

"Sure, why not, just let me get my sword." Kairi said.

She took her boat, returned to her house, said a quick hello to her adoptive mother and father, and grabbed her sword. Kairi's adoptive parents were the mayor of Destiny Islands and his wife. They were very nice, kind and had being looking after Kairi ever since she had came to Destiny Islands.

When she got back, she found that other children where wither standing or sitting near the beach where she was going to be battling with Tidus. As she walked toward the children Sora and Riku walked up her and told her that they had collected their supplies and placed them in crates next to the raft.

Tidus was ready and stood his trademark battle position. He stood with his knees bent and his feet apart, holding his wooden stick at his out at his side.

Wakka was being the referee for the match and stood in between Kairi and Tidus, while the others cheered at the sidelines.

"Okay, I want a clean fight okay? No trip-ups. Kairi this applies to you, no shots at partially painful places, I know you can do that something if you want to cause pain. No blows to the face, and if you are knocked down and do not get up before I count to ten, then you lose and your opponent wins. You both got that, ya?" Wakka said.

"Right." Kairi and Tidus said together.

Wakka raised his arm in the air and said, "Right, begin after three."

"Three, two, one - fight!" Wakka lowered his arm and moved to the side.

"You're going down," said Tidus, as he charged Kairi.

Kairi rolled out of the way of his stick, and swing her sword at him, but like Tidus, she missed as Tidus quickly back-flipped out of the way. Kairi ran up to him and swing her sword again, but missed again.

"Come on," Tidus teased.

Kairi quickly ran behind Tidus and hit him on the back of the head before he had time to react. He cried out in pain swinging his stick and whacking Kairi on her head, causing her to also cry out.

For a while, they just continued chasing after one another. Tidus turning back-flips and front flips as he tried to land blows on Kairi, while Kairi ran about and jumped backwards and forwards, also trying to land blows. All the while, the other children cheered them on at the sides, with Sora yelling, "Get him, Kairi!"

And Selphie going, "Show her what you're made off, Tidus!"

They did get good blows on each other, one particular blow to Kairi's leg give her a nasty bruise.

After fighting for about twenty minutes of fighting both Kairi, and Tidus were beginning to tire. Tidus turned less back-flips and Kairi jumped less. They begin to swing their weapons with deceasing force and speed. Eventually after about half an hour of fighting both of the teenagers were panting and were leaning against their weapons. They stood like that for a little bit longer, trying to recover their energy.

Kairi was the first to recover Tidus just a few seconds later, back-flipping out of the way as Kairi charged at him. Kairi jumped backward and landed near the pier. For a just a moment, the two of them just looked at each other. Then they began to charge at each other, weapons raised, ready to strike. There was a loud clack as the wooden sword and stick clashed of off each other, followed by more clacks as the two opponents descended into a full on sword-to-stick fight. They stepped back and forth swung and jabbed at each other and always ending and a loud clack as their weapons clashed off each other.

Eventually Kairi managed to stop the constant clashing and got three good quick blows on Tidus's arms and chest, followed by one final blow that send flying backwards across the sand. Tidus landed flat on his back, disarmed.

Wakka ran out of his position at the sidelines and stood in the middle of battle area, raised his arm and started counting.

"One, two, three..."

Tidus tried to sit up, but flopped back on to the ground.

"Four, five, six,..."

Tidus tried again, he managed to get himself in to a sitting position but could not seem to get any further.

"Seven, eight, nine…"

Tidus tried almost desperately, to get back on to his feet. There was _no way _he was going to lose to Kairi.

"Ten!"

It was too late.

"And the winner is - Kairi!" Wakka cheered, walking over to her, grabbing her arm and raising it into the air.

"Yeah!" Kairi cheered, and punched a fist into the air with a jump.

Sora and Riku cheered, and Selphie folded her arms and pouted, showing that maybe she care for Tidus after all.

Tidus, disappointed at losing, flopped back down on to the sand.

"I can't believe I lost! And to a girl!" he unhappily cried.

* * *

The sun was setting, turning the sky orange, Kairi and Sora sat on the pier of the now empty beach.

"You know, Riku has changed," Kairi said to Sora.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"Well…" Kairi began, but trailed off.

"You okay?" Sora asked, concern in his voice.

Suddenly, the girl had a thought.

Excitedly, she thought, "Sora! Let's take the raft and go, just the two of us!"

"Huh?" the surprised boy replied.

"Just kidding" Kairi said, with a laugh.

"What's gotten into you? You're the one that's changed, Kairi. In not only this, but you're sparing more and more often." Sora replied.

"Maybe...and as for the fighting, well, I need to be strong. You know, I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready, no matter where I go or what I see, I know I can always come back here, Right?"

"Yeah, of course!"

"That's good," the replied, and looked at the sea for a few moments, then turned to Sora and said, "Sora, don't ever change."

"Huh?" Sora said for the second time, as Kairi stood up.

"I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great," she said, staring out at the sunset.

* * *

In Disney Castle everybody expect Pluto, who was fast asleep in his basket, was gathered in the library around Donald Duck as he read aloud the King's letter.

_Donald,_

_Sorry to rush off without saying goodbye, but there's big trouble brewin'._

_Not sure why, but the stars have been blinkin' out, one by one. And that means disaster can't be far behind. I hate to leave you all but I've gotta go check into it._

_There's someone with a "key" - the key to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him. Got it?_

_We need that key or we're doomed! So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He'll point you in the right direction._

_P.S: _

_Would ya apologize to Minnie for me? Thanks, pal. _

_-King Mickey_

"Oh, dear! What could this mean?" asked Daisy Duck, worried.

"It means we'll just have to trust the King," replied Queen Minnie

"Gawrsh, I sure hope he's alright," said Goofy.

Donald turned to the Queen and nobly said, "Your highness, don't worry, we'll find the king, and this 'key'."

"Thank you, both of you," said the Queen, with a smile.

Donald turned to Daisy. "Daisy, can you take care of-"

"Of course, you be careful, now, both of you," Daisy before Donald could finish his sentence.

"Oh, and to chronicle your travels, he will accompany you," said Queen Minnie, gesturing towards the King's writing desk, which was near the centre of the library.

Donald blinked, trying to see who the Queen was talking about. He caught sight of a tiny little green cricket wearing a blue top hat with an orange band just above the brim. He also wore a red top with a pink spot in the centre of it, a black tailcoat with a high white collar. Finally, he had white gloves and shoes that were yellow at the back and black at the front. The little cricket jumped up and down on the desktop.

"Over Here!" the cricket called making sure Donald could see him. "Cricket's the name Jiminy Cricket at your service," the cricket took off his hat and bowed.

"We hope for your safe return. Please help the king," said Queen Minnie.

Donald saluted and looked from her, who gave him a final smile, then to Daisy who nodded, then to Goofy who saluted him. _Oh no, Donald thought, you are not going to chicken out on this Goofy._

"You're coming too!" Donald snapped, grapping Goofy by the arm and dragging him out of the room.

Donald and Goofy, along with Jiminy Cricket who was sitting on the top of Goofy helmet, descended the stairs to the castle's basement, where their transport, a ship called a Gummi Ship awaited them.

"Gawrsh Jiminy, your world disappeared too?" said Goofy, as Jiminy told his story of how he had come to Disney Castle.

"It was terrible, we were scattered, and as far as I can see, I'm the only one who made to this castle," he replied.

"Goofy?" said Donald.

"Oh, right…I gotcha, you mean while we're in other worlds, we can't let on where we're from, we gotta protect the world border" said Goofy, understanding Donald, but again making a mistake with his words like he sometimes did.

"Order!" Donald corrected him.

As they descended deeper below the castle, a doorway loomed ahead of them, which lead to the Gummi Ship's launch station.

"I guess we'll need new duds when we get there," said Goofy.

The trio walked through the door and into the blue brick walled launch station, which was noisy with the sound of clogs wiring and machines working away.

"Hello up there? Donald Duck to launch crew, anytime you're ready!" he spoke into it.

His voice caught the attention of the castle's two chipmunk mechanical specialists who were up on a small platform a little way away from where Donald and Goofy stood.

They were Chip and his twin brother Dale. They're were both wearing yellow tunics with red straps that has a circle on the back bearing the Kings mouse head shaped emblem in red and a pocket at the front also bear the same emblem, but smaller. The only way to tell which chipmunk was which, were the colour of their noses and the shape of their teeth. Dale's nose was red and his teeth were crocked and spaced apart, which Chip has a black nose and straight teeth with no spaces between them.

Chip saluted and Dale ran over to a lever and pulled it down, sending two large mechanical hands over to Donald and Goofy, which picked them up and dropped them off into the cockpit of their red, orange and yellow Gummi Ship that had a powerful engine and four white wings.

Little did they know, Pluto had followed them, obviously managing to have slipped from Daisy's watchful eye. Pluto run to the Gummi Ship and jumped inside.

A mouse emblem shaped door opening in front of the Gummi ship, and Queen Minnie and Daisy arrived in the launch station, to watch Donald and goofy take off. They stood on a platform a little way from the Gummi Ship.

Daisy looked up at Donald with worried eyes, but Donald gave her a reassuring smile, thumbs up and a wink.

The Gummi Ship engine started up.

"Blast off!" Donald cried pointing straight ahead.

But instead of blasting off straight ahead, an arrow pointed downwards and the ship fell though a opening in the floor, turning upside down as it when. It looked like the chipmunk's machines were malfunctioning…again.

The Gummi Ship fell right though the bottom of Disney Castle before flipping the right way up again, as it blasted off into space.

* * *

**Author's Notes: What do you think of this chapter, readers? Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to review!**

**Thank you ^_^**


	4. The Storm

**Chapter 4**

_**The Storm**_

It was late at night and a few hours after Sora and Kairi had finished their conversation and returned to their homes to rest up for the next day. Kairi was relaxing on her bed, waiting for her mother to finish making dinner. She was so exited about tomorrow. In just a few hours, she, Sora and Riku would be setting sail on their raft. The girl's mind was filled with images of worlds they just might visit, and friends they just might make along the way.

Kairi looked up at a small wooden ship on one of her shelves, the one that she and Sora shared and took turns to look after each night. It was Kairi's that night. The ship had two small dolls in it, one was a girl the other a boy. As she shared up at the ship Sora's words from a few days ago drifted into her head.

"_I'd like to see it too, along with any other worlds out there. I wanna see 'em all…"_

Suddenly Kairi heard a low rumbling sound outside the window and she looked at to see a bolt of lighting shoot out of a group of dark cloud in the sky.

"A storm?" she said, confused. It was rare on her island to see a storm just start out of nowhere.

Suddenly realizing what the storm could mean, the girl sat bolt upright. "Oh, no the raft!"

Kairi jumped off her bed, wrenched the windows open and climbed out, desperate to save the raft.

* * *

Kairi's mother was making her way up to her daughter's room.

"Kairi, dinner's ready. Come on down."

She waited for a few moments, but there was no reply.

Strange. Usually Kairi would come down on the first call; she hated to make her mother wait. However, she did not come as usual tonight.

"Kairi?" asked Kairi's mother, opening the door to her bedroom.

Kairi's clothes were all over the floor, but there was no sign of the girl herself.

Her mother gasped when she spotted the open window, and the curtains blowing in the wind.

Kairi's mother placed her hand over her mouth as a shiver of horror ran down her spine at the thought of her beloved daughter, whom she considered her own as much as she would if she was her biological mother, being out in a storm as terrible as this.

However, that was not the worst thing about this situation.

The worst thing was that Kairi's mother could not go after her daughter. Her husband had always told her that the worst thing you can do in a storm, unless you were a professional is to go looking for those lost in it.

Another shiver ran down the woman's spine, as she ran downstairs to tell her husband the terrible news.

Little did Kairi's mother know, on two other parts of the island, both Sora and Riku's parents were doing the exact same.

* * *

Kairi arrived at the islands pier and jumped out of her boat without even tying it up.

She looked up at the sky and saw a large, frightening orb of some kind of dark energy hanging over the island. "What's that?" she asked.

Kairi made her way further down the pier and saw two boats tied up, being rocked about by the rough water.

"Riku's boat. And Sora's," she realized.

Suddenly two shadows materialized out of the ground in front of the girl. They continued to morph into their forms and Kairi recognised them as the insect-like creatures from her dream.

The girl began to get scared but then remembered what the mysterious voice had said to her in the dream, _"There will be times you have to fight, keep your light burning strong…_"

Kairi drew out her wooden sword, which she brought with her, and sliced at a nearby monster that jumped at her, claws ready. The sword passed right though the monster and did no damage. She swung at another of the creatures, but again her sword passed right thought it. She sliced and slashed, swung and hacked. Nothing happened.

Realising it was useless to fight Kairi thought that all she could do was run. She went to the edge of the sea, intending to go to smaller off-shore island, but saw that the sea was too turbulent to cross. She looked closer to the island and saw that the ladder was gone. No doubt it had been washed away by the sea.

The insect-like monsters on her trail, she headed to towards the small wooden seaside shack that had a staircase inside it that led to the bridge connecting the smaller island to the main island. Kairi made it to shack to and closed the door just to avoid being slashed by another leaping monster. She expected the creatures to open the door and come after her, but they could not seem to figure out how to open it. _Maybe they're not as tough as I first thought _she thought to herself as she ran up the stairs of the shack.

As Kairi emerged from the upper floor of the hut, she saw a figure standing on the small island. It was Riku. He was standing with his back to her and looked up at the ball of dark energy that hung over the island.

Kairi ran across the bridge to Riku.

"Where's Sora? I thought he was with you!" the girl said as she ran.

"The door has opened…" Riku said in a dream-like tone.

"What?" Kairi questioned.

Riku turned around and said, "The door has opened, Kairi! Now we can go to the outside world."

"What are you talking about? We gotta find Sora!" Kairi said.

"Sora's coming with us!" Riku snapped. Kairi was a little scared, Riku do not sound like himself.

Riku turned his back to Kairi, looked back up at the sphere of dark energy that hung above the island. "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back."

Riku turned back to his friend and continued, "But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

Riku reach out his hand to Kairi for her to take.

"Riku…" said Kairi.

Suddenly darkness spread at Riku's feet. The darkness crept up his body, covering him in vines of darkness, while all the while he did not react but just continued to hold out his hand to Kairi.

Letting out a cry Kairi over to Riku to try to help him, but that same darkness appeared under her and threatened to take her too. She stretched out her hand as far as she could, trying to grab a hold of Riku's hand, but was slowly absorbed until she was trust into darkness itself. She floated in the complete dark, frightened. "W-what's going to happen to me? It's so dark…and I'm alone…" Kairi said into the darkness, her fear growing by the second.

After a few more terrifying moments, a glimmer of light appeared above the girl, and to her relief, was pulled out of the darkness and was back on the smaller island. In those few moments, she had been more scared than she had been in her entire fourteen years of life. She never ever wanted to go back there again.

The light that had bought Kairi back faded and as it did, a weapon appeared in her hand. The weapon looked like a skeleton key. It had a gold, square shaped hilt, which had slanted side at it reached the top of the hilt, and decretive gold screws were imbedded in the two bottom corners with a handle with a circular black grip running though the space in the middle of it. The handle and the top-middle of the hilt was attached to a silver circular blade about 75cm long at the side of the top of the blade there was sharp, silver teeth. The negative space between the teeth resembled the crown on the necklace Sora wore.

The final thing Kairi noticed about the weapon was that, attached to the bottom of the hilt, was a sliver chain and attached to the end of the chain was a flat, silver mouse head shape, just like the one that was on the weapons in her dream. The mouse head was so highly polished the girl could see her reflection in it. This weapon, just like the sword, shield and staff in her dream, was beautiful.

_Keyblade…Keyblade…_

It was the gentle voice that had called to Kairi and guided her though her dream.

_A keyblade…what an unusual weapon_, _but it's a weapon and I really need one right now, _Kairi thought to herself.

Kairi looked ahead, and saw Riku was gone. Deciding it was the only thing she could do Kairi ran off to find Sora.

As she ran, the insect-like creatures began to come after her. She swung at them as the come up to her and after three hits from the teeth of the Keyblade, one by one they disappeared. Kairi allowed herself a small smile; she was able to defend herself.

Fighting off the creatures as she went the girl made it to the secret place. If Sora was anywhere on a night like this, he would be there.

She was surprised when she reached secret place to find that in front of the entrance to the cave there was a white double door similar to the one in her dream.

The girl entered the cave, shivering from the rain and cold. She noticed that as there no monsters around, that the Keyblade disappeared in a flash of light. _Perhaps it disappears when I don't need it _Kairi thought to herself. She made her way along the passage until she reached the large, main area of the cave. She was so relieved find her spiky-haired friend standing looking at the handless door at the back of the cave.

"Sora!" Kairi called out to the boy.

Sora turned around slowly to face Kairi. She saw that he was not looking good, he appeared to be in a daze, his eyes were half-closed, and he looked as if he could barely stand up.

"Kairi…" Sora said weakly, beginning to stretch out his hand to his best friend.

Suddenly the door behind Sora flew open and a gust of darkness rushed out of it. Kairi threw her hands up in front of her for protection. The gust was so strong that it blew Sora across the cave towards Kairi. The girl spread out her arms out to catch her friend, but just as he reached her, he suddenly disappeared in thin air. One moment he was flying towards her, being propelled by the dark gust, the next moment he was simply…gone

Kairi looked surprised as her arms closed on nothingness.

The gust of darkness blew her right out of the cave, giving her on time to think about what had happened to Sora. She landed on the reminds of the smaller island, which, along with parts of the main island, was floating in midair, close to complete destruction.

Kairi got up and looked around.

She was not alone.

The huge monster form her dream stood in front of her.

It seemed as everything in her dream was becoming reality, first the smaller monsters, now the larger one. _What could this mean? _Kairi thought.

Kairi summoned the Keyblade, which appeared in a flash of light.

She fought the monster the same way she did in her dream, but this time it was a little harder. Like in the last battle every now and them the monster would place its hand on the ground and spawn a pack of the smaller creatures, but this time each pack had double as much as of the creature in one pack as last time. Kairi jumped into the air, slashing at the large monsters hand until it lowered its hand to summon another pack of the smaller creatures, then she defeated the smaller creatures, then she jumped onto the monster's shoulder and attacked its head until it stood up again, then she repeated the pattern again.

The battle of dodging dark energy balls, fighting the smaller creatures and slashing at the large creatures hands and head repeatedly, ended abruptly after a while as the monster was suddenly sucked into the sphere of energy in the sky.

Kairi felt herself being pulled up by the force of the dark energy ball. She spotted a piece of wood sticking up of the ground, ran over to it and clung on to it for dear life.

The girl's body was pulled upward with the force of the energy and she clung to the wood as hard as she could. Her left hand slipped and her arm was pulled back, into the direction of the suction, useless. She tried to use her remaining hand to keep a hold of the wood, but after a while it too, slipped.

"Whoa!" Kairi cried as she was pulled upward though the air, straight towards the ball of dark energy in the sky.

"Sora…Riku…my island…" Kairi said quietly as she entered the orb of energy. _I'm never going to see them…or my island ever again._

Kairi's last thought faded out from her mind as her senses shut down completely.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Thank you for reading! Please review!**

**Thank you ^_^**


	5. A Whole New World

**Chapter 5**

_**A Whole New World**_

Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto had finally arrived in the world of Traverse Town, on the King's orders to find Leon. It had been a bumpy journey at first but Donald had managed to get the ship on track and going at a good speed and they had reached Traverse Town about two hours after setting off from Disney Castle.

Donald and Goofy had changed their clothes on the way to Traverse Town. Donald was now wearing a dark blue jacket with two pockets on the front and a lighter blue sailor collar and two zips running down the front of it, with a hat the had a dark blue buckle around the bottom and had zips running diagonally across the top of it. He was also wearing a gold bracket around both his wrists. Goofy was now wearing a green top that was tucking into orange pants with a black belt around his waist. He was wearing a black, zip-up body warmer over his top, white gloves and brown and silver shoes.

Traverse Town's buildings were mostly brown, and, if they were a shop, displayed a fluorescent sign telling shoppers what they sold. In some areas, the buildings ranged from dark blue to white and brown. The ground was paved and a pink-brown colour in some areas, and grey or dark blue in others

As the two friends walked something in the dark, blue sky caught Goofy's eye.

"Look, a star's going' out!" He cried, pointing to the sky.

"What?" asked Donald, turning round.

The two watched in shock as one more star, one more beloved world, blinked and disappeared out of existence.

"Come On. Let's hurry," said Donald. Goofy nodded and they and Pluto set off again.

"Where's that key?" Donald asked as the group walked up the stairs that let to the Accessories Shop.

"Hey, ya know, maybe we ought to go find Leon." Goofy replied.

Pluto was on a search mission of his own, he had picked up a scent coming from down a dark alleyway.

Goofy pointed in the direction Pluto was heading as said, "Uh, Donald. Ya know, I betcha that…"

"Aw what do you know, you big palooka?" said Donald, before Goofy could finish his sentence.

"What do I know?" he asked himself, but could not think of anything. He decided just to keep following his friend. "Come on, Pluto!"

Pluto did not heed. He was still sniffing out the source of the new smell. He spotted the source of the smell, a young, red-haired girl. It was Kairi, but Pluto did not know that. Pluto moved closer to Kairi. She was unconscious. Pluto licked her cheek, trying to wake her up.

"Huh?" Kairi mumbled. She looked ahead to a see yellow dog with floppy black ears looking at her.

"What a dream…" She said, letting her eyes close and her body go limp again.

Pluto jumped at her, hitting her in the chest with his paws, and jerking her wide awake.

"This isn't a dream!" said Kairi. Pluto watched as she got up. She looked around the small alleyway she was in. "Where am I? Oh boy," she stood. Kairi crouched and looked down at Pluto and asked him, "Do you know where we are?"

The dog pricked up his ear and suddenly ran off.

"Hey…" said Kairi stretching out her hand as the dog disappeared.

Kairi decided she would have to find out where she was by herself. She walked out the dark alley, and discovered she was in some kind of town. A few people - a young boy, a middle-aged man and a young woman, walked about the town square, talking to each other.

"This is totally weird…I'm in another world!" the girl said. She turned around to the shop behind her. A large yellow sign above the door read "Accessories" in neon lights. She decided to go in; maybe there was someone in there that could tell her where she was.

The shop was cozy. It had a brick fireplace in right corner next to the door, two blue sofas in the top right corner, a green counter in the top left corner with a glass display case behind it, showing items for sale.

A man stood behind the counter. He looked in his mid-thirties; he had short blonde hair pushed back by a pair of goggles on his head. He was wore a white t-shirt, blue pantaloons, and an orange belly warmer around his waist. A necklace hung from his neck, with a rectangular pendent on it. The man chewing a piece of wheat that was sticking out of the corner of his mouth.

"Hey there, how can I…" the man spotted Kairi standing at the door.

"Aw, it's only a kid." the man continued.

"I'm not a kid! And the name's Kairi!" Kairi snapped in defence, as she approached the counter.

"Okay, okay, simmer down," said the man, taken aback by the girl's temper. So why the long face, Kairi? You lost or somethin'?"

"No! Well, maybe. Where are we?" asked Kairi.

"Huh?"

Kairi told the man about everything. About the mysterious storm that had destroyed her island, about her friends, Riku and Sora, and her desire to find them and make sure they were okay. She told him about the creatures that had invaded the island, about the darkness that had swallowed up Riku, about Sora disappearing into thin air. Kairi though she must have sounded crazy, but the old man still listened to her story without question. When she had finished, he told her about the town they were in.

He explained to Kairi that the place they were in was Traverse Town, where the only people who survived their world's destruction ended up. It was a peaceful town, but nobody ever set foot outside the first District. Strange thing happened in the second and third distracts, people who went in them, never came back out.

"The first district is safe, but the second and third ones are really dangerous. Don't let your curiosity get the better of you. I don't want to see you get hurt." The man warned the young girl.

The man told Kairi that she was welcome to stay in his shop, as a sort of home, for as long as she needed.

"Traverse Town…" Kairi said quietly.

"So, gramps, is this really another world?" She asked, still finding it hard to take it all in.

"Don't call me gramps! The name's Cid!" The man snapped. Now he was the one with the bad temper.

"Anyway, not sure what you're talkin' about, but this sure ain't your island" Cid continued.

"Hmm…guess I'd better start looking for Riku and Sora," Kairi replied.

"Well, good luck with whatever it is you're doing. If you ever run into trouble, you come to me. I'll look out for you," Cid replied kindly.

Kairi smiled and nodded, then turned around and walked outside to search the town. She decided to ask the people around the square if they had seen Sora or Riku.

She walked up a brown-haired boy slightly smaller than her, who she had seen earlier, standing next to a lamppost.

"Excuse me, have you seen a boy with spiky brown hair and blue eyes like mine, or a boy with shoulder length silver hair and light blue eyes?" Kairi asked the young boy.

"No, sorry. I keep seeing a lot of new faces all the time though. An odd pair came by here a little while ago," the boy replied.

"Oh, right," said the girl before walking off.

She walked up to the young woman asked her the same question, but she had not seen Sora or Riku either. Kairi then asked the middle-aged man, that like the other two, she had seen earlier, but got the same response as the boy and woman.

Kairi turned around and walked back up the stairs that let to the Accessories Shop, then turned a corner and preceded up another small flight of stairs. As she walked up the stairs, she spotted a small white-furred creature with round ears near the top of its head and little purple bat-like wings on it back. The little creature had no hands or feet, but could still walk on its two legs. It also had a small, fluffy pompom like thing dangling over its head, attached to the creature's head by a red antenna. The girl walked up to the small creature and crouched down in front of it.

"Hello there," Kairi said kindly, tickling the little creature under its chin.

The creature giggled and replied, "Hello, kupo"

"No, that's not my name, I'm Kairi." Kairi said.

"Nice to meet you, kupo," the creature replied.

"I've never seen a creature like you before, what are you?" the girl asked

"A moogle, kupo,"

"Why do you keep calling me Kupo?" Kairi asked.

"We moogles always end our other sentences in kupo, kupo." The moogle said, then asked, "Are you new, Kupo?"

"Yeah. I am gonna go explore this place more," Kairi replied cheerily. The little creature was making her felt happy.

"That could take some time. Be very careful if you decide to enter the second and third districts, kupo," The moogle warned. It seemed that Cid was not the only one who was aware of the danger that lured in the second and third districts.

"Okay thanks, and bye, um, kupo," Kairi said, straightening up.

The moogle giggled again and replied, "Bye kupo."

Kairi set off again, the little moogle waving after her. She walked to a large set of wooden double doors. A sign above the doors read, "Second District". Cid had told Kairi that she was not to leave the first district, the little moogle had warned her about it too, but how dangerous could they really be? She decided that she would go into the second district. Perhaps she could find the source of the strange occurrences and resolved it.

"I'll just have to be careful," She said, then opened the door and stepped though.

The first thing Kairi saw was a man with an expression of deep fear on his face running towards the doors. The man tripped and fell on his back near Kairi and tried to keep going backing away towards the doors, a look of pure terror on his face.

Suddenly, a bright light containing a heart - his heart - emerged from the man's chest. It float up to a dark portal and disappeared into it. The man's body disspeared and from the dark portal into emerged a dark creature. The creature wore a knight's helmet and had red claws and black shoes with curls at the ends and the same big yellow eyes of the insect-like small creatures. Kairi tensed, shocked by what she was seeing.

After a few moments of stepping form side to side, its helmet making a creepy clattering noise, the creature flipped and disappeared.

Wondering what had just happed, the girl walked fowards, intending to explore the place. Suddenly, shadows appeared a citcle around her and become to take on their forms.

"It's those creatures from the island!" Kairi cried. She summoned the keyblade and it appeared in her hand in the same flash of light that it disappeared in when it was no longer needed.

The creatures lunged at the redhead, attacking her with kicks and scraches, and Kairi responded be slicing at them with the Keyblade, jumping, rolling and running out of the way of the creature's attacks, then running back and hacking at them. One by one, the creatures fell to her weapon, and, Kairi noticed that every time a creature was defeated, as it disappeared in a wisp of dark smoke, a heart in a glowing light would rise upwards out of it and would fade away.

She would have liked to know why this happening, but she had to search for her friends. The battle was over after about five minutes.

The girl continued on her way. She came up to a building with a sign saying "Hotel". She pushed open the door and went in. More creatures appeared.

Kairi let out a cry of frustration.

_These things are everywhere! What do they want from me? _She asked herself as she started to dispatch them.

Meanwhile, as the girl searched the town for her friends, Donald and Goofy were starting their own search. They pushed open the doors to the second District. Goofy took a glance around.

"Doesn't look like he's here," he said.

"Keep looking!" ordered Donald, tapping his foot impatiently.

Goofy walked off ahead, with Donald following in search of the man called Leon.

* * *

Not a single soul could be found in the hotel. Fortunately it was empty of the shadow creatures too.

Although she knew she should not have cared, Kairi like the way the rooms were. Each room had a different colour scheme, one room was mostly red, another mostly green, another mostly yellow, and the final mostly blue.

_I wonder why this hotel is so small….well I guess not many people make it to this town. How can it be used anyway, with those creatures here? _Kairi thought to herself as she walked back out of the building.

She made her way along a small walkway and down a flight of stairs to the lower part of the second district.

As the girl approached the centre of the lower part of the district, more of the shadowy creatures appeared. She was beginning to become annoyed at the fact that everywhere she went the creatures followed.

She fought off the group of six creatures, then continued on her way.

She turned down an alleyway, and saw the door of a house on the left at the end. The girl walked up to the door and noticed it was strangely unlocked.

"Should I? I'd be intruding," Kairi wondered for a few moments, then made her mind up and went into the house.

At that moment, Donald and Goofy walked out of the building called the "Gizmo Shop", which was located above the house Kairi had just entered.

Not here, either," complained Donald, tapping his foot again.

"This could take a while," said Goofy, glancing around, trying to catch a glimpse of Leon.

Inside the house, Kairi looked around the first room. It was a cosy living room. She looked around again and stopped a pair of Dalmatian dogs in the corner.

She walked up to the dogs and stoked them, and they wagged their tails and turned over for the girl to scratch their bellies. They were a female and a male. The male was wearing a red collar that had a pendant on it that said "Pongo" and the female was wearing a blue collar with a pendant saying "Perdita".

Suddenly Pongo got up, ran over to the coffee table and barked. Kairi walked up to the coffee table and saw that there was a piece of paper on it. She picked up the paper and read it.

_Our 99 puppies were lost amid the chaos our world's destruction. If any of them are found, please return them to this house._

_Roger and Anita Radcliffe, the Dalmatian's owners._

Attached to the bottom of the piece of paper was a black-and-white photo of a cute puppy.

Perdita walked up to the girl and sat down in front of her, and looked hopefully up at her.

"Don't worry Pongo and Perdita, I'll certainly keep an eye out for your puppies," Kairi promised them, before walking towards the front door and pushing it open, emerging once again into the second district.

Kairi walked down another allyway in the second district, and as she approached the place wher she had fought of the group of six creatures, another group of six appeared. Kairi fought them off quickly. She was getting used to runing into them at almost every turn.

She walked down the other alltway, turned a corner and walked down towards a door. She stopped at the door, and looked up at trhe sign above it; it read "Third District".

"Hmmm….should I explore it? I will probably run into more of those creatures…then again, I might find Riku and Sora," Kairi said, stoking her chin. "Okay, if I run into those creatures I'll leave, but if I find Riku and Sora…well I don't quite what I'll do. Just have to wait and see." with that Kairi opened the door to the third district.

Kairi walked along the small walkway. There was a vacant house on the left hand side and a staircase on the right. She peered over the side the of the walkway down into the lower part of the destrict, but there was nothing to see but two pipes running though one side and another walkway that rose and fell. She stopped to large wooden doors next the pipes, and wondered where they led. She walked down towards and the dors and as she did, yet another group of shadowy creatured appeared. "Grrr…leave me alone!" She cryed as she sommuned the Keyblade and hacked at the creatures, and soon they were all gone. She tried to open the large wooden doors, but they were locked. Still wanting to know where they led, she peered though a gap in the doors, to see what was though them. She was surprised to find herself looking at the first district. She had come in a full circle.

Kairi gave up on finding Sora and Riku for the moment, relizing that the second and third districts were useles, and decided to return to the fitst destrict. "At least I won't have to fight though creatures in the first district," she said as she walked. However, she had no such luck.

The creatures had made there way into the first district and appeared and rose out of the ground to attack Kairi as she ran though towards the Accessories Shop. She noticed as she run that the people who were in the first district had disappeared, and she hoped they had not been attacked. She ran into the Accessories Shop, panting.

Cid smiled at the girl as she sat down on one of the sofas to catch her breath. "Hey, you okay?" Cid asked the girl.

"I'm fine" She replied, after she has caught her breath and had returned to normal. _Is Cid not aware of the danger outside? _Kairi asked herself. It seemed like he wasn't.

Cid did seem to know why the girl had come back on her own as he said, "Still haven't found 'em? Keep your chin up. Take another look around town." Kairi realised he was talking about Riku and Sora.

Kairi decided to go back outside, but not to look for Riku and Sora, but to take care of all the creatures, before Cid noticed they were in the first district.

The young girl walked outside the shop, Keyblade at the ready, but the place was emply. She expected the creatures to appear the moment she left the shop, but none came.

Kairi walked forwards and as she did, she heard a slightly deep, male voice:

"They'll come at you out of nowhere."

"Who are you?" the girl asked turning around. The man stepped out of the shadows. The girl began to get uneasy, the man looked tough. He looked about seventeen and had shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes and Kairi noticed he had a scar running diagonally across the bridge of his nose. He was wearing a short-sleeved leather jacket, with a red symbol on one of the sleeves, a white shirt, black jeans, black gloves, three leather bands round one of his arms, black shoes, and a neclace with a pendent shaped like a raoring lion's head. He was also well built like Riku.

"And they'll keep on coming at you, as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade," the man continued, ignoring her question.

The young man then placed a hand on his forehead and closed his eyes, thinking, and said, "But why? Why would it choose a kid like you?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Kairi snapped.

"Never mind. Now, let's see that Keyblade." the replied, then began to walk towards the girl.

"What? There's no way you're getting this!" Kairi was ready for battle, fingers tightly wrapped around the handle of the Keyblade.

"All right, then have it your way," the man replied, then pulled out a weapon, sliced it though the air and readied it. The weapon look strange, with a butt of a gun and instead of a barrel, there was a sharp blade attached to the butt.

The man pointed the weapon at Kairi and pulled the trigger, sending a ball of fire hurtling at her. She yelped and rolled out of the way of the fireball. The man charged at her raising his weapon to slash her, but at the very last moment, Kairi blocked it with the Keyblade.

She tried to get a hit on the man, but he was quick and knocked her back onto the ground. After taking a good few hard hits and avoiding being burnt three more times, she worked out a strategy.

The man charged at her again but Kairi was ready and darted out of the way, then came around the back of the man and hit him hard three times. The man turned round and launched another fireball at her but the girl deflected it back at him, causing him to jump out of the way.

Kairi kept up the same routine for a while until she wore the man down. She then delivered five hard hits to the young man. He fell on to one knee, still managing to keep a hold of his weapon.

After a few moments, the man looked up at the girl with a smirk on his face.

Kairi was exhausted, and backed away, panting.

"Now...you're...gonna...you're gonna…" She collapsed on to the ground, unconscious.

The man got up, and at looked down at the girl on the ground.

"Aw, you're slipping, Leon," said a voice behind him. He turned his head to see a young girl of sixteen with chin length black hair and dark blue eyes. She was called Yuffie and she was a close friend of his.

"I went easy on her," Leon replied trying to sound his usual tough self. "Looks like things are worse than we thought. A lot worse."

* * *

In another, far away world Riku, was waking up.

"Where am I?" he said, looking around the place he was in. "Sora! Kairi!" he called, hoping his friends were near.

There was no response.

Realising no-one expect him were there, Riku lowered his head in sadness. He was completely alone...or was he? Unbeknownst to the teenage boy, a woman in a black cloak was approaching where he was standing. The woman had spotted him, and was wondering what to do with him as she walked up to him.

* * *

Donald and Goofy walked along the back alley behind the Hotel, still searching for Leon. The place was completely deserted, not a single person in sight.

"Gawrsh, there's nobody here. Sure is spooky!" said Goofy.

"Aw, phooey. I'm not scared," Donald said bravely, holding his head up high.

A hand tapped Donald on the shoulder. Frightened, Donald cried out and leapt high into the air, squealing. He caught hold of Goofy as he fell, dropping to hang around his neck.

"Excuse me. Did the king send you?" asked the gentle voice of a girl.

Goody turned around to the girl, Donald still around his neck.

She was seventeen, and had long brown hair tied back into a plait by a red ribbon and her bands were parted in the middle and styled to that the rose upwards and then came downwards, framing her pretty face and gentle green eyes. She was wearing a pink, button up dress with thin red straps and a few buttons undone at the bottom of it, with a blue belt, that tied with two straps. She was also wearing brown boots, a black string tied into a bow around her neck and a group of silver bracelets around her left wrist.

* * *

"Come on, lazy bum. Wake up," Kairi heard a familiar voice. She sat up and shook her head, and once it had cleared she realised she was in the green room of the hotel.

She turning her head to the side - and was delighted to see Sora looking down at her. She had found him! He was still in his hooded black and white short-sleeved jacket, which was blue on the inside with his sleeveless, short-legged, red jumpsuit, which zipped up at the front with a chain hanging off it at the left side, his blue belt around his waist, yellow shoes, white and black fingerless gloves, and his crown necklece around his neck.

"You okay?" Sora asked Kairi.

"I guess…" Kairi replied.

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade. But it's your

heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade." Sora explained to her.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Sora," Kairi said, smiling at her friend.

"Sora? Who are you talking about? I'm the great ninja Yuffie."

A flash of momentarily blinded Kairi - and she found herself looking at a girl with chin length black hair and dark blue eyes.

_How could I have mistaken this girl for Sora?_ the redhead thought shamefully to herself. _She looks nothing like him and her voice is different. Not forgetting she's a girl! _Kairi felt upset with herself that she had been so foolish.

The girl was wearing a green crop top with blue leather straps that had buckles on them, tan short shorts with a blue and black belt. On her arms, she was wearing netting arm warmers with leather bands at the top. Over the bottom of her arm warmers she wore orange fingerless gloves that came up to her elbows. A leather band near the end of the gloves stopped them from falling off. The girl was also wearing thigh length white socks with orange shoes, a yellow scarf around her neck and a green and sliver ninja headband wrapped around her head, almost hidden under her hair.

"I think you might've overdone it, Squall," said Yuffie, turning her head as a man entered the room. Kairi tensed; it was the same man who had attempted to take the Keyblade from her.

"That's Leon," Leon replied to Yuffie.

Kairi looked around the room again, saw the Keyblade against the wall, and wondered how it had gotten there.

"The Keyblade…" Kairi trailed off.

"Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures. It turns out that's how they were tracking you," Yuffie explained, as she walked towards Leon stood next to him and placing her hands on her hips.

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them. But it won't work for long," said Loen.

Leon walked over to the Keyblade and picked it up, saying, "Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one."

Leon swiped the Keyblade to the side and it suddenly disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing in Kairi's hands in another flash of light.

"Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers," said Leon.

"Why don't you start making sense! What's going on here?" Kairi asked.

_This guy is sooo ignorant _Kairi thought angrily.

In the room next door to Kairi's, unbeknown to her, Aerith, the young woman Donald and Goofy had meet, was preparing to explain to them what was going on with the worlds.

"Okay, you know there are many other worlds out there besides your

castle and this town, right?" she began.

"Yeah," said Donald.

"But they're supposed to be a secret," gasped Goofy, holding his hands over his mouth.

"They've been secret because they've never been connected. Until now. When the heartless came, everything changed," explained Aerith.

"The Heartless?" said Kairi, confused. She did not know that in the next room, Donald, Goofy and Aerith were having the same conversation as she was with Leon and Yuffie.

"The ones who attacked you, you remember?" asked Yuffie, who was now sitting on the bed next to Kairi. "The darkness in people's hearts - that's what attracts them."

"And there is darkness within every heart" added Leon.

"Hey, have you heard of someone named Ansem?" Yuffie asked Kairi.

"Ansem?" questioned Goofy.

"He was studying the Heartless. He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report," explained Aerith.

"Gawrsh, uh, can we see it?"

"It's pages are scattered everywhere," Aerith replied.

"Scattered?" cried Donald.

"Too many worlds."

"Oh, then maybe the king went to find 'em" Goofy suggested.

"Yes, those were my thoughts exactly," replied Aerith.

"We've gotta find him quick!" exclaimed Goofy.

"Wait! First, we need that Key!" said Donald.

"That's right. the Keyblade," Aerith added.

"So…this is the key?" asked Kairi holding up the Keyblade.

"Exactly!" answered Yuffie.

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade. That's why they'll keep

coming after you no matter what," said Loen.

"Well, I didn't ask for this," Kairi replied.

"The Keyblade chooses its master. And it chose you," Yuffie said to her.

"So tough luck," added Leon.

"How did all this happen? I remember being in my room…" Kairi began then gasped in shock, and jumped off the bed onto her feet. "Wait a minute! What happened to my home? My island? Riku! Sora…" the girl trailed off.

"You know what? I really don't know," Leon replied, carelessly, leaning against the door of the room. Kairi scowled, Leon's ingnorence was really getting on her nerves.

For a while Kairi sat next to Yuffie, running over everything she had being told and making sure she complete understood it. Once she was sure, she have everything in order, she walked over to Loen, intending to ask them if they were going to to leave the hotel soon.

Loen begin to talk before the girl even had time to open her mouth Loen spoke: "Sooner or later, the Heartless will find you. You'd best prepare yourself."

"Prepare myself?" Kairi said.

"To fight for your life. Are you ready?"

Kairi thought for a few moments. What if she got injured? Or what if the Heartless got her?

After thinking for a few more moments, she made her decision. "I'm ready!" she said to Leon.

Leon look over at Yuffie and said, "Yuffie, let's go join Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors."

Yuffie got up off the bed about to follow Leon, then she suddenly cried Leon's name and pointed to the corner of the hotel room, a look of fear on her face. A helmeted Heartless appeaed in the corner.

"Yuffie, go!" Leon orderd, pulling out his weapon, the weapon that looked like a cross between a sword and a gun.

Yuffie ran into the room next door, slamming the door and accidentally flattening Donald Duck between the wall and the door as she burst through.

"Yuffie?" gasped Aerith, running after her.

"Kairi, let's go!" said Leon.

The helmeted heartless smashed through the window of the hotel room and jumped down into the back alley behind the hotel, and Leon followed after it. Neither he nor Kairi, Aerith or Yuffie saw the door of the Red Room peel back, to reveal Donald, flattened against the wall, a look of shock on his face. Goofy would just have to wait with him until he un-flattened.

* * *

Leon and Kairi had fought and defeated the group of heartless the helmeted one had summoned when it had jumped down in the alleyway. Leon was very powerful, defeating the heartless in one hit, while Kairi had to use at least three hits.

Leon turned to Kairi and said, "Those helmeted heartless are called Soldiers, and the smaller insect-like ones are called Shadows. Shadows are the most common Heartless. Don't bother with them though, we must find the leader. Lets go!"

Leon then rested his sword on his shoulder and started running, turing a corner.

Kairi ran around the same corner, but Leon was nowhere to be found. Kairi was angry that he had just disappeared. _Well, I'll just have to fight on my own again, _she thought, before starting to run again.

A while after everyone had disappeared, Goofy ran over the edge of the balcony outside the Red Room, looking for any sign of Aerith, but she along with Yuffie, Leon and Kairi, were long gone.

Suddenly a dark portal appeared behind Goofy and the now unstuck Donald, and two Soldier Heartless appeared.

"Gawrsh, are these the Heartless guys?" asked Goofy, holding up his round, silver shield that had his king's mouse-head symbol on it to protect himself.

"Let's go get 'em, Goofy!" Donald said heroically, swing his staff the had a long brown handle, then a dark purple shape theat looked a little like a human head and on top of the head was a mage hat which look like a brown witch's hat.

Donald ran over to attack the two Soldiers. But with just one hit Donald and Goofy were knocked high in to the air, screaming.

* * *

Kairi had made her way to the third district, fighting Shadow and Soldier Heartless as she did. She looked above her hearing a scream and saw tow figures, one was a humanoid duck and the other a humanoid dog, falling out of the sky.

Kairi would have thought about how weird that was, but the two creature landed right on top of her almost flattening her. She felt dizzy for a few moments before getting back to her scenes.

"The Key!" the two creatures cried, spotting the keyblade lying in front of the group.

Kairi had made her way to the third district, fighting Shadow and Soldier Heartless as she did. She looked above her hearing a scream and saw tow figures, onea houmaniod duck and and humanoid dog, falling out of the sky.

Kairi would have thought about how weird that was, but the two creature landed right on top of her almost flattening her. She felt dizzy for a few moments before getting back to her scenes.

"The Key!" the two ceatures cried, spotting the keyblade lying in front of the group.

Suddenly the whole third district began to shake, and walls rose up all around small area the group was in trapping them. Heartless appeared at the top of each wall. All were Soldiers. The three of them really had no choice but to fight.

Kairi charged forward, Keyblade in hand, and with a jump and three quick hits, took down the Soldier directly in front of her.

The girl turned around about to start towards another Soldier, but she heard someone cry "Thunder!" and a lightening bolt sot down at the Soldier zapped it. The first thunderbolt was followed another one, and the Soldier disappeared in a puff of dark smoke, defeated.

Kairi turned around to see who had cast the thunder, and saw the humanoid duck holding a staff in the air. He was the one who has cast the spell. Kaiir looked around again, and saw that the humanoid dog was helping her too, fighting with a round, silver shield that bore the same mouse head symbol on the weapons in her dream, and the keychain of the Keyblade. She would have liked to thnk about why the humanoid dog had the symols on his shield, but she still had some fighting to do.

The group of three contuined to fight together until all of the Soldier Heartless were defeated, and Kairi had a chance to catch her breath.

However, the silence and peace did not last long. Six huge pieces of purple metal fell suddenly out of the sky, making the young girl jump. The pieces of metal bounced up and spun around, quickly connecting to become a head, torso, two arms, and two legs. It did not even properly connect; the pieces of its body just hovered close together, forming a body-like shape. It was somewhat creepy.

Kairi looked at the duck to her right and the dog to her left, and the three of them nodded to each other, then charged towards the metal monster.

Kaitri when for the torso, while the duck went for the arms and the dog went for the legs. It was quite tricky, fighting the mondter, the battle was not exactly hard, but it was not easy either.

Every few minutes or so, the monster would spin it's torso around rapidly in a dangerous attack that would knock Kairi flying, at which point she would have to run right back over to the creature again.

Kairi kept fighting even though she wearing out. Her muscles ached, she was running short of breath. She was not sure how much more of this she could take, every blow dealt to her by the monster drained more of her energy, the energy she needed to defeat the monster.

Kairi eventually fell to the ground, exhausted and wondering what to do. She was safe at least the dog and duck were keeping the monster busy.

Kairi was about to give up when she remember the potion she had acquired in her in dream. She reached underneath her purple sarong and into the pocket of her slightly darker shorts. Amazingly, the potion was still in there, unharmed, despite all she had been though. She unscrewed the top of the potion and drank the green liquid. She grimaced, it tasted disgusting, but it seeming to work.

Almost immediately, the teenager could feel her energy returning and the bruises she has received from the Heartless began healing and disappearing. Even the bruise she had received during her battle with Tidus faded away.

Kairi got to her feet again, energy and determination renewed, and charged towards the monster. She fought, slashing and hacking and jumping and dodging along with the dog and the duck, until the monster began to shake violently, at which the group backed off. The monsters arms and disappeared and the head felt inside the torso with a loud clank. The head disappeared in a huge flash of light and a large heart rose out of the torso and disappeared. The head and body immediately followed. It was over.

* * *

"So, you were looking for me?" Kairi asked. The dog and duck had just told her their whole story about their King going missing and sending them on a mission to find "the one who wields the key".

"Uh huh," the creatures replied.

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," said a now familiar voice. Leon walked up to the group, Yuffie with her hands on her hips, at his side. Even though she had just met them a while ago, Kairi thought of them as friends and was glad they were, though she wondered where the girl called Aerith had gone.

"Hey, why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on

our vessel," The dog humaniod offered the girl.

"I wonder if I could find Sora and Riku…" Kairi wondered aloud, looking at the ground in sadness.

"Of course," said the duck humanoid.

Kairi looked up hopefully.

Are you sure? I am glad we had found someone who wields the Keyblade, but the king's letter said the wielder would be male," Goofy muttered to Donald, in a low enough voice so that Kairi couldn't hear them.

"Who knows? Maybe the king was wrong, or he was just assuming it was a male. But we need her to come with us to help us find the king."

"Leon stepped forward, having heard what Donald and Goofy were talking about. "Kairi, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends."

"Yeah, I guess," said Kairi looking unhappy again.

"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand? No frowning. No

sad face. Okay?" said the duck humanoid.

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!" the dog humanoid chipped in, then the creatures pulled a funny face.

"This boat runs on happy faces," the duck humanoid said, pushing Goofy away from him.

"Happy?" said Kairi still looking at the ground. After a few moments she decided to give it a try.

"Cheeeeese!" Kairi said, shooing her head up and giving the silliest smile she could muster.

Her smile faded away when she saw the strange looks on their faces. But then they burst into laughter.

"That's one funny face!" laughed the dog.

"Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys," Kairi finally decided.

"Donald Duck." the duck humanoid introduced himself, holding out his hand.

"Name's Goofy," said the dog humanoid placing his hand on top of Donald's.

"I'm Kairi," said Kairi placing her hand on top of Donald and Goofy's.

"All for one, one for all," cried Goofy.

* * *

In a dark castle far away, six people stood in darkness around a table. A holographic green light on the table showed Kairi's every move.

"That little squirt took down that Heartless! Who'd have thought it?" said Hades, the God of the Underworld, he had with blue skin and blue fire for hair, wearing an Ancient Greek tunic.

"Such is the power of the Keyblade. The child's strength is not her own," said Jafar, a man with a thin moustache, wearing black and red Arabian Nights robe, cape and turban who was holding a staff that had a top shaped like a snakes head.

"Why don't we turn her into a Heartless? That'll settle things quick enough," said Ursula a fat blue skinned, white haired woman who lower half was not human legs, but a octopus's lower half,

"And the brat's friends are the king's lackeys. Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them," said Captain Hook, a man with long black hair and a thin moustache, wearing a Pirate Captain's garb.

"You're no prize yourself," replied Oogie Boogie, a stranger creature, being a living bag of insects.

"Shut up!" snapped Captain Hook.

"Enough," said the sorceress Maleficent, silencing them all. She had green skin and wore a black robe, with a headdress shaped like horns,. She was the leader of the unusual group. "The Keyblade has chosen her. Will it be she who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow her? Either way, she could be quite useful…"

* * *

**Author's Notes: Hope you enjoyed latestest chapter! The next chapter may take awhile to upload and I apologise. As usual, reveiw!**

**Thank you ^_^**


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